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Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Law

Date Published:

6/29/2012

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Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Law

On June 28 the U.S. Supreme Court left intact the 2010 law requiring non-exempt individuals to buy health insurance or face a penalty; this was interpreted as within Congress’s power under the Taxing Clause.

On the law’s requirement that states expand Medicaid or forfeit federal funds, the court issued some modifications. It found that: “(1) Congress acted constitutionally in offering states funds to expand coverage to millions of new individuals; (2) States can agree to expand coverage in exchange for those new funds; (3) If a state accepts the expansion funds, it must obey the new rules and expand coverage; (4) But a state can refuse to participate in the expansion without losing all of its Medicaid funds; instead the state will have the option to continue the current, unexpanded plan as is.”

Leech Tishman’s Employment Practice Group has published a detailed alert regarding the implications the PPACA will have for employers. To view this alert, please click here.

(Sources: www.cnn.com, www.SCOTUSblog.com (Supreme Court of the United States blog))

For more information on the Government Relations Practice Group, please click here.